How to use Google to sync all your passwords

Securely store your passwords with Google and forget the need to pay for a password manager.

Keeping track of passwords is a pain. You should not use the same for each account because it ridiculously dangerous. A third party password manager is a solution, but it is not perfect, and the best of them cost money. once I crowned King LastPass against competitors, but since then a perpetual bad interface on the web and a recent security breach made me look around. While Dashlane and 1Password are admirable services, none has proved to be quite satisfactory. They sometimes get confused by different URL from the same site, if you end up with duplicates. The extensions that are needed to run them sometimes slow down your browser. It is an imperfect solution to a complex problem.

Google thinks he may have the answer. It might be good for you right now, as long as you are willing to live on the edge a bit and put some pieces of the puzzle together. But in the end, if you use existing tools Google password management, you will have a smooth system that keeps all your online security backed with Google. Of course, it puts its eggs in one basket, but Google has shown to be a pretty tough bird when it comes to protecting the nest.

Google’s Smart Lock is the future

At Google I/O the company unveiled its latest weapon in its long battle against passwords: Smart Lock. The promise is that Google will “unlock” your favorite websites and applications by storing safely your password to your account and sync between Chrome and Android.

Google Smart Lock will save the password you entered in compatible Android applications.

You will of course need to be a Chrome user and tell the browser (which it does by default) to record and save all your user names and passwords. For example, if you saved your password to the New York Times in Chrome, Google will automatically connect to the Android application. No need to find the password somewhere and enter it. Android developers have to add support for this functionality in their applications to work magic. Google partnered with a select group of applications to get that ball rolling. Popular services like Netflix, Orbitz, and Eventbrite Instacart already live. Fortunately, because this ability is related to Google Play services, he is already working on your device. No need to wait an Android update. To take this up, head to the Google Settings app on your Android device and select Smart Lock passwords.Make sure this setting and connection Auto are both turned on. Then try it yourself by downloading one of the applications mentioned above or log out and back in again. You should see the Google Smart Lock light icon until the next time you try one of these applications.

Use the Google sign-in

Because Smart Lock for passwords is in its infancy, there is another piece of password to kill Google’s strategy that you can use. Google sign-in allows you to register and connect to a service supported with your Google Account. In most cases you will see the icon Google+, but that is likely to transform over time with regular image from Google’s social network is now significantly last scale back.

Just about any service decent size now using Google+ option to connect. It is more secure than password because the application authenticates your Google Account. You can also check occasionally with new Google Account Management Tool to view the applications you have activated and DE-authorize anything you no longer use.

Use Google sign-in to by pass creating another password

I use this service as soon as I can. That means I do not need to create or keep track of another password. Yes, this means that Google has yet another piece of my identity online, but the company has been a pretty good steward. I use Gmail for 10 years, Chrome since its launch, and a heavy amount of Google services on Android, Chrome, and iOS. My safety was never raped and did not finish my data wherever I am comfortable with. You must be sure to turn on two-factor authentication and check with the devices regularly access your account. With diligence and common sense safety should be fine.

You will still need workarounds

Smart Lock effort Google is still in its infancy. Very few applications have implemented the functionality to automatically use your Chrome saved password when logging into an application. And there are still some who do not use Google connection. So you’ll need a workaround for sites where you saved your password and need to connect to Android. The best way to handle this for now is to get to your passwords passwords.google.com. From there you can copy a password in the application you are trying to connect to (after signing back in to your Google account). It is not as smooth as having a password manager or connect using the partnership SwiftKey with Dashlane.

You can access all your saved passwords in Chrome through this mobile-friendly site.

But for now, he will do the job. You can see one of your passwords, hit the eyeball icon, then copy and paste it into the application you want to use. It is a little pain, but it is the best you can do for now until Smart lock off. Strangely, I also find that sometimes the password would not be copied to the clipboard from my device. The best solution was to hit the button multitasking, gesture to Chrome, and try again.

Another tip: Chrome has a hidden feature that will generate passwords when it detects that you try to create a new account on a website. To reverse this result, type chrome://flags in the omnibox and then look Enable password generation. Select Enable and press the Restart pop-up button for this feature to go live.

This works both for Chrome on Android, Windows, OS X, and Chrome OS. It is the fastest way to get a password that is synchronized with your Google account. I suspect this capability will eventually become a standard feature in Google Chrome that pushes forward its Smart Lock efforts. The security solution, I presented here is definitely for someone who does not mind a few hiccups and knows their way in the maze of a smartphone. It will be a time of pain in time when you need to copy and paste the password. But I think going all-in with password of the Google system is the best way to protect your online identity and get ready for Google’s goal to strengthen management and security identity between Android and Chrome.